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Newsweek and Daily Beast to merge

Newsweek and The Daily Beast, a two-year-old website, have reached an agreement and are expected to make an announcement on a merger shortly, sources close to the development told the New York Times media blog.

Following the merger, which will combine the two groups in a venture called the Newsweek Daily Beast Company, Tina Brown, co-founder of The Daily Beast, will be at the helm of both publications.

Ms Brown had formerly served as editor of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Talk magazines.

A confidential source, having knowledge of the agreement, told the blog on condition of anonymity, that both Newsweek and The Daily Beast would continue to publish separately.

Newsweek had been without an editor since stereo magnate Sidney Harman bought the magazine from the Washington Post for a token cash price of $1 in a deal that closed in September.

Since then, Harman has struggled to find an editor for three months. The first discussions between him and The Daily Beast fell apart. However, weeks after abandoning the merger talks, both the entities had finally agreed a deal to combine.